Elijah tqlman



(No Model.)

B. TOLMAN.

SPOON AND FORK. No. 285,769. S Patented Sept. 25, 1883.

WITNESSES: INVENTQR:

I BY

W 7 ATTORNEYS.

N. PETERS Phulwhlhognphar. Wahmglov g nc.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

ELIJAH TOLMAN, OF TAUNTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO 8E- BARTON, OF SAME PLACE.

SPOON AND FORK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 285,769, dated September 25, 1883.

Application filed March 21, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known .that I, ELIJAH TOLMAN, of

Taunton, in the county of Bristol and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement .in Spoons and Forks, of

which the following is a full, clear, and exact .exposed points, to prevent the unsightly appearance due to a wearing away of the plating metal on exposed parts.

As is well known, the convex portions at the back of the handle and bowl of spoons and forks are exposed to more rapid wear than any other part of such articles. To prevent the rapid wear at these points, an additional coating of the plating metal has been applied at such points; or projections have been formed on the body of the handle and bowl to form a base for supporting the body of the article out of contact with a table. These means of retarding wear, however, not only involve unnecessary expense, ti me, and labor in the manufacture of spoons an d forks, but the latter means gives an unsightly appearance to such articles by the lumps or projections formed thereon.

I have therefore invented an improved means of retarding wear in plated articles, whereby the article shall not be disfigured in appearance, nor its outline noticeably changed, as compared with the usual forms of such articles.

In carrying out my invention I provide'a I spoon or fork, or like article, with small plane or flattened surfaces on the back or convex portion of the bowl and handle, which shall form a base adapted to rest flat upon a table at the points of contact.

of a spoon, showing my invention. a longitudinal section of Fig. 1.

In the drawings, Figure l is a bottom view Fig. 2 is .Fig. 3 is a sectionalview of a spoon that has been stamped to form the flattened surfaces; and Fig. 4 is a bottom view of a fork, showing my invention.

A indicates alfork or spoon having small plane or ,flattened surfaces 13 formed in the same plane with each other in the convex rear portions of the bowl and handle. These surfaces may be of very small area, so as to be scarcely noticeable; or they may be made comparatively large, if desired. formed by means of corresponding surfaces in thedie or mold, by which the base-metal core of the fork or spoon is shaped; or they may be stamped after the core is formed. Inthe latter ease plane surfaces will be formed both on the concave and the convex. surfaces of the bowl and handle, and this stamping may be done in such manner as to ornament the front or upper side of the fork or spoon. The core, after being provided with the plane surfaces, is ready to be coated with plating metal. Instead of first providing the core with the plane surfaces, and then plating the same, the article may be stamped after it has been plated, the essential feature of my invention beingthe plane or flattened surfaces at the back or convex portions of the bowl and handle. The core may also be provided with the plane or flattened surfaces by grinding or polishing.

\Vith the above construction the spoon or fork will have small flat or flattened bases on which to rest when it lies on a table, and as two flat surfaces moved in contact with each other will not, owing to the distribution of the friction, be subject to as much frictional wear as a plane and a convex surface so moved, it will be readily perceived that the plating metal will last longer with a Hat base than where the V plated article rests upon a curved or convex surface.

In still further defining the limits of my invention I would state that I am aware that a medicine-spoon having two bowls and a single handle between them has had the larger bowl made with a broad flat bottom, to pre vent the spoon from being accidentally overturned while filled with medicine and resting on a table. I disclaim any such construction, as well as any other merely flat-bottomed vessel. My invention is distinguished from the above in that it is applicable solely to articles which do "not require flat bottoms to support They may be them, and that to accomplish the purpose of 5 retarding wear it is necessary that both the bowl and handle shall be flattened, and, further, that they shall be flattened in the same plane, while the flattened surfaces may prachandle and bowl or head whether the body tically be made so small as not to mar the usual be cast or struck up in dies, and whether the 10 beauty of spoons and forks, and without inaarticle be plated or otherwise as specified.

terially lessening the intended effect of the T 5 Constructi 01L ELIJAH TOLl\IAl\.

Vhat I claim is- Vitnesses: A spoon or fork the body of which is flat ELISHA T. JAoKsoN; over small areas of the convex surface of both F. E. FISKE. 

